Trek Fuel EX 9 and 9.8

The Fuel EX is the most versatile mountain bike in the Trek range. Whether you are a novice rider, or an avid trail junkie, there’s an EX for you. It blends the perfect combination of travel, geometry, and technology. The Trek demo fleet will have two versions of the EX for 2012, the OCLV Mountain EX 9.8, and the aluminium EX 9.

The Fuel EX 9.8  combines 120mm of travel and OCLV Mountain with Carbon Armour, with the proprietary DRCV shock and new DRCV Fork, as well as ABP convert pivot/dropout.

The EX 9 uses the same great technology features as its carbon cousin, but in an alloy frame.

Price: EX 9.8 £4000. EX 9 £2800

Sizes: 15.5, 17.5, 18.5, 19.5, 21.5 Travel: 120mm front and rear

Features: OCLV Mountain mainframe and OCLV Carbon seatstay and chainstay, Carbon Armour, DRCV fork & shock, tapered headtube, internal cable routing, ABP convert rear pivot/dropout, Full Floater.

Trek Remedy 9 and 9.8

Somewhere in the middle of the demand for climbing ability and more travel lies the Remedy. It’s made for riders who want to tackle relentless technical terrain, but might have to ride up a hill to get to it.

Similar to the Fuel EX, the 2012 Trek demo fleet will consist of two Remedy models: the all carbon 9.8, and its aluminum friend the Remedy 9.

Price: Remedy 9.8 £4300. Remedy 9 £3200

Sizes: 5.5, 17.5, 18.5, 19.5, 21.5

Travel: 150mm rear, 150mm front

Features: All new trail Geometry, Also a Mino link this year (this changes the head angle by +/- 0.5 a degree and raises/drops the bb height by 10mm) OCLV Mountain mainframe and OCLV Carbon seatstay and chainstay, Carbon Armour, DRCV fork & shock, tapered headtube, internal cable routing, ABP convert rear pivot/dropout, Full Floater, Stealth Reverb (9.8 & 9.9 only).

Slash 9

Brand new for 2012, here is the Slash. If you’re looking for a bike that pedals as well as Remedy but want to rip like you were on a Session, then this is the machine for you.

Designed and tested for the extremes of the Mega Avalanche, this is your go to bike for Enduro races.

Available in 3 Aluminium models, Slash 7 £2750, Slash 8 £3750 and the Slash 9 £4750

Sizes: 15.5, 17.5, 18.5, 19.5, 21.5

Travel: 160mm rear Kashima coat, 120mm-160mm Kashima travel adjust front

Features: Trail Geometry, Mino link (this changes the head angle by +/- 0.5 a degree and raises/drops the bb height by 10mm) DRCV shock, tapered headtube, internal cable routing, ABP convert rear pivot/dropout, Full Floater, Stealth Reverb.

Superfly 100 Elite

29ers have been around for a decade, and their popularity is growing around the world. The Superfly 100 combines big wheels with 110mm of travel for great control over the trail.

Price: £4500

Sizes: 15.5, 17.5, 19, 21, 23

Travel: 110mm rear 100mm front

Features: OCLV Carbon frame, Fisher Control Column MTB oversize hub and flanges, G2 geometry, ABP, E2 headtube.

Superfly Elite

29ers have been around for a decade, and their popularity is growing around the world. The Superfly combines big wheels with 100mm of travel for great control over the trail.

This is the ultimate speed machine, this bike climbs like no other but will be completely at home when pointing her down too.

Price: £3300

Sizes: 15.5, 17.5, 19, 21, 23

Travel: 100mm front

Features: OCLV Carbon frame, Fisher Control Column MTB oversize hub and flanges, G2 geometry, ABP, E2 headtube.

Rumblefish Pro

29ers have been around for a decade, and their popularity is growing around the world. The Rumblefish Pro combines big wheels with 120mm of travel for great control over the trail.

This bike is for those who are looking for all the benefits of a 29′er but are looking to ride on more challenging terrain and requiring that little extra travel.

Price: £3250

Sizes: 15.5, 17.5, 19, 21, 23

Travel: 120mm rear 120mm front Kashima

Features: Fisher Control Column MTB oversize hub and flanges, G2 geometry, ABP, E2 headtube.

We decided on two venues, Cwmcarn and Ae Forest, not only because of their great DH trails but because they have some great facilities and knowing it was most likely to be cold and wet in November a welcoming cafe serving big food was a must. Boy are we glad of those cafes!

With Jez and I coming down with a good dose of flu, the bikes arrived and we battled our way through the huge pile of shiny bikes, prepping them all for the event ahead. One all done they looked great, it was heart breaking to thing of the punishment our dealers were going to give these bikes. The first rides of their lives were going to be wet, gritty and flat out! All the wile we were keeping our eye on weather reports, and they weren’t looking good, gales and floods seemed to be the theme, oh well, we were committed now with our dealers already invited.

Once arrived and set up at Cwmcarn we started to worry that the gales might have put our dealers off coming but no, there they were, on time and kitted up ready to hit the hill and push our bikes to the limit. A brief tech presentation about the new product got the guys up to speed and upped the excitement of the riders, so much so that once outside they couldn’t wait for the uplift and decided to push up for the first run. Heres where the new Sctatch came into its own, they guys could pedal it up the push path but still rip the DH course every bit as fast as the session! Of course thats whats the bike is designed to do and thats what they’ve been told in the training, but some things just cant be believed until you’ve seen it with your own eyes. Maybe it should have been called Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin! (US guys, go google it!)

The revised Remedy was also a subject of lots of discussion and surprise. The fans of Remedy were very unsure of the changes Trek made to the 2010 bike (moving to a 150 travel 32mm stantion fork). After a few pedals up the trails and then down again those worries were quickly replaced with confidence in and even more capable and useable bike. The new carbon Remedy was equally well received with the OCLV carbon armor standing up to a few runs down the DH trails in the hands of Dirts Steve Jones.

With two days of gales over with and a few banners and flags lost in the winds we packed up and headed to Ae forest in Scotland, no wind here, but did it rain some what. Despite two months worth of rain in one day and a particular puddle that came up to the bars opinions of the bikes were the same as in wales; Fantastic bikes that do exactly what they are designed to do and do it better than anything else out there. Nice.

So, now when you go into a Trek dealer you know the staff not only have the training but also the experience of riding these bikes in an environment and conditions that push them to the limit, if they say how well a Trek rides, they say it with experience!

A big thanks to all the shop staff who turned up in the foul weather and everyone from uplifts, forestry and the cafes who helped make a smooth running event. We’ll be back next year!